How Charles Dickens was nearly called to the stage

An exhibition at a former home of Charles Dickens explores how the writer's work has been brought to life on stage and screen, and how a twist of fate could have led to an alternative life as an actor.

The Charles Dickens Museum in Doughty Street, London, is the house in which he lived from 1837 to 1839, and where he also wrote The Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby and Oliver Twist.

Dickens spent part of his childhood in Chatham, and returned to Kent later in life, buying Gads Hill house near Gravesend.

He was an enthusiastic amateur performer throughout his life, and a twist of fate could have led to him becoming an actor rather than a journalist and writer.

In 1845, Dickens wrote to his friend John Foster describing how, at the age of 20 in 1832, he was invited to audition in Covent Garden for the actor-manager Charles Kemble, but could not go because he "was laid up with a terrible bad cold and an inflammation of the face".

By the following year, when he could have auditioned again, he said he "had a distinction in the little world of the newspaper, which made me like it; began to write. See how near I may have been, to another sort of life".

Actor, writer, director and museum patron, Simon Callow described this as a "pivotal moment" but said he "never stopped writing, directing and performing plays".

He said it all "came to a head in the public readings which he performed for massive and astounded audiences on both sides of the Atlantic".

Dickens works such as the Christmas stories were regularly turned into stage plays during his life, while today most people become familiar with his novels through film and TV adaptations.

Emma Harper, curator and deputy director of the museum, said: "It may have started with Alastair Sim's Scrooge, Helena Bonham Carter's Miss Havisham, Ron Moody's Fagin, Tilda Swinton's Betsey Trotwood, Claire Foy's Amy Dorrit or Oliver Reed's Bill Sikes, but so many people have had their love for Dickens fired by a great performance or production of one of his books.

"Films, TV and theatre bring so many people to Dickens's books and, in turn, the museum."

Frankie Kubicki, the museum's director, said: "Personally, I have the Muppets to thank for finding Dickens.

"Dickens is inextricably linked to performance, and theatre, TV, and film are absolutely central to the continuing story of Charles Dickens."

The event, which runs until 18 January, is part of the museum's centenary celebrations.

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